Initial Fantastic Fest 2013 Lineup Includes Premiere of MAN OF TAI CHI; New Images Released

Fantastic Fest has announced the initial lineup for this year’s festival, which includes the US premiere of Keanu Reeves’ directorial debut Man of Tai Chi. The pic follows the journey of a young martial artist (Tiger Hu Chen) who’s lured into an underground tournament run by an unsavory chap (Reeves) dead set on corrupting him. Reeves will appear in person at Fantastic Fest to introduce the film, but the initial lineup includes plenty of other great genre pics. Among this year’s Fantastic Fest films are a movie about crime fighters that have been dosed with anti-aging gas called Kid’s Police, an erotic thriller called She Wolf, the story of a murdered man reincarnated as a fly called Eega, and plenty more. As previously announced, Robert Rodriguez’s sequel Machete Kills will also premiere at the festival.

Hit the jump to check out some new images from Man of Tai Chi and to get a look at the initial festival lineup. Fantastic Fest 2013 runs from September 19-26 in Austin, Texas.

Here’s the initial lineup of Fantastic Fest 2013 films:

BIG BAD WOLVES (Israel, 2013)

Texas Premiere

Director- Navot Papushado & Aharon Keshales, 110 mins

The directing team behind the 2010 cult smash RABIES return to Fantastic Fest with one of the best genre films of 2013.

BORGMAN (The Netherlands, 2013)

North American Premiere

Director – Alex van Warmerdam, 113 mins

Something wicked this way comes in the form of the ordinary, the polite and the normal as a drifter and his followers invade the home of a bourgeois family.

CHEAP THRILLS (United States, 2013)

Regional Premiere

Director – E.L. Katz, 85 mins

A recently fired father facing eviction is paid to take on an escalating series of insane challenges from a rich couple with a twisted sense of humor.

COMMANDO – A ONE MAN ARMY (India, 2013)

US Premiere

Director- Dilip Ghosh, 120min

Singing! Dancing! Extreme violence and goofy one-liners from Bollywood’s answer to Tony Jaa and Marko Zaror! If Cannon Films were to relocate to India, COMMANDO would be the result!

EEGA (India, 2012)

Austin Premiere

Director – SriSaila Sri Rajamouli, 107 mins

A murdered man reincarnates as a fly to wreak vengeance on the villain who took his life and his lover. EEGA is an inventive, insane take on a revenge story unlike anything you’ve seen before.

HALLEY (Mexico/The Netherlands, 2013)

Texas Premiere

Director – Sebastian Hofmann, 83 mins

Though Beto’s life may technically be over, he allows himself to experience it one last time before his body completely falls apart in this unique and contemplative horror film.

KID’S POLICE (Japan, 2013)

North American Premiere

Director – Yuichi FUKUDA, 100 mins

When evil criminal organization Red Venus strikes, there’s only one team of highly specialized cops who can help. Unfortunately, they’ve been dosed with anti-aging gas that has turned them all into children.

LFO (Sweden/Denmark, 2013)

World Premiere

Director – Antonio Tublen, 94 mins

A solitary man discovers audio frequencies that open the human mind wide to hypnotic suggestion and, ultimately, his total control in this slyly deadpan dark comedy from Sweden.

MAN OF TAI CHI (United States, 2013)

US Premiere

Director – Keanu Reeves, 105 mins

Keanu Reeves stars in and directs this epic tale about a young martial artist who must compete in an underground fight club to protect his way of life. As the fights intensify so does his will to survive.

NARCO CULTURA (United States, 2013)

Texas Premiere

Director – Shaul Schwarz, 103 mins

NARCO CULTURA is a graphically disturbing documentary that examines the parallels between the Mexican drug war and the increasingly popular musical style of narcocorridos (drug ballads).

NIGHTBREED – THE CABAL CUT (United Kingdom, 2012)

Texas Premiere

Directors – Russell Cherrington, 144 mins

NIGHTBREED: THE CABAL CUT is a new director’s cut of Clive Barker’s horror classic that places the film in an entirely different light.

NORTHWEST (Denmark, 2013)

Regional Premiere

Director – Michael Noer, 91 mins

A teen hoodlum in Copenhagen becomes entangled in the criminal underworld

NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN (Germany, 2013)

North American Premiere

Director – Katrin Gebbe, 110 mins

Tore, a member of the counter-culture Christian movement Jesus Freaks, is befriended and taken in by a family who play an increasingly cruel, violent game and push his capacity to love to its limits.

ON THE JOB (Philippines, 2013)

US Premiere

Director – Erik Matti, 200 min

Corruption abounds in this stylish, Cannes-selected, ripped-from-the-headlines story of prisoners released on a day pass to work as killers. The cops must bring them in, never knowing how far the corruption spreads and who they can trust.

RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD, THE (The Netherlands, 2013)

Regional Premiere

Director – Guido van Driel, 89 mins

Adapted from his own graphic novel by first time writer-director Guido van Driel, RESURRECTION OF A BASTARD tells the darkly funny, Coen-esque tale of a career thug caught in an existential crisis.

SHE WOLF (Argentina, 2013)

North American Premiere

Director – Tamae Garateguy, 92 mins

A sexual predator roams the streets and trains of Buenos Aires, a beautiful woman who uses sex to lure in her victims. A potent, punk rock spin on Euro-sleaze influences in this raw, erotic thriller.

VIC + FLO SAW A BEAR (Canada, 2013)

US Premiere

Director – Denis Côté, 95 mins

An ex-con named Vic and her lover Flo retreat to a sugar shack in a small Quebec town to start anew. Their attempt to live a normal life slowly and disastrously unravels.

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